Science Fiction Writing

Inviolate

Inviolate is a modern first person dungeon crawler in a Sci Fi setting, with a retro feel.

GVoid, in the shape of Geoff Pell, contacted me after reading an interview I’d given for Retro Video Gamer. If they were creating a game inspired in part by the 1993 Amiga game Hired Guns, then a certain course of action suggested itself. For writing the story, why not ask the guy who wrote the Hired Guns story in the first place?

Naturally, I said yes.

It was the right time, after all. I’d been freelance for just over a year, my time was theoretically my own. And who wouldn’t want to write about a bunch of characters running around in a Brain Bank which has been — spoiler! — taken over by aliens.

Brain Bank?

The premise is that the super rich can have their neurons replaced by a synthetic equivalent and stored in an off-world facility. This allows them to have ultimate fantasies fed straight into them, indistinguishable from reality. Oh, and as a side-benefit, practical immortality. So when the relief crew arrive and find the place deserted, the mystery begins. Which is where the game starts and where I became part of the dev team.

Immediately I caused consternation by changing the setting. Instead of taking place on a planet, it takes place on an asteroid. Brain Banking? Transferring minds? To discover, with some research, that a real asteroid exists and was called 16 Psyche was just too delicious. That said asteroid is considered to be an odd one by real life astronomers was pure icing. I’m an astronomy nut, which ought to become obvious after a decent length of time.

At the moment I’m developing the characters from which the players can choose a selection.

Inviolate has been in development for a couple of years now and is looking pretty solid. The playable demo version is scheduled to be released to the public around March 2017 with a Kickstarter to produce the full version.

Inviolate

I've pinched some of the graphics from the official Inviolate website. For promotional purposes you understand. Inviolate is inspired by Hired Guns and other dungeon crawlers of that era.